


Sometimes a Family

by DroppedAllTheseOreos



Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-05-12 19:41:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19235803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DroppedAllTheseOreos/pseuds/DroppedAllTheseOreos
Summary: Sometimes a family is your son, a video game idol turned nurse, a guy you fired, his adopted daughter, a dead man, "God," a gremlin, his dragon friend that was going to be your daughter in law, and a pediatrician.





	1. Hiiro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's so many evil/just generally bad dads in most of the Kamen Riders I've seen, it's kind of a huge downer, so I'm taking this day to celebrate one of the better dads in the series.
> 
> Also this is extremely late, and totally not on Father's Day, but it's the thought that counts.
> 
> This was intended to all be posted as one big fic, but I decided to chop it up, and figured people can always hit 'entire work' if they wanna read it as it was intended. Also this has minimal editing, so hopefully it's okay for the most part.

Haima always knew Hiiro was a little different. Granted, everyone was unique. But with Hiiro, it was a little more than people would consider a normal amount of unique. Hiiro was cold, sometimes just couldn't find it in himself to speak or was overall tactless in situations obviously requiring delicacy. People were quick to write him off as bland or rude, Haima heard all kinds of hospital gossip through Asuna.

He also had ears, even if he was going a little deaf with age, but he could hear the whispers of how Hiiro's cold demeanor came from being spoiled by his papa. How Hiiro only got where he was because of the Kagami prestige rather than the hard work and dedication Haima knew he put in. The years of study and sleepless nights and grief he'd witnessed, even if he wasn't physically there. He could hear it through the tiredness in his son's voice over the phone while he was studying in America. Saw it in the pallor of his face and the shadows under his eyes in pictures his wife would send to keep Haima updated. They didn't know what Hiiro had been through. But it didn’t seem to affect his son too much, so while it bothered Haima, he continued on as normal, supporting Hiiro with all his heart.

And yes, that did result in Haima treating Hiiro with some very blatant favoritism in what should be a professional space. But honestly? This was his son for goodness sake, (saying “God” still felt strange after Kuroto re-entered their lives) of course there would be bias.

Many of his employees seemed to forget, the sternness he treated them with was because they were in a professional space, and he wasn’t any of their fathers. Or at least, he thought he wasn’t. The team in CR especially had become friendly with him.

His weird employees aside, Haima acknowledged it was frustrating to deal with Hiiro sometimes. It was heartbreaking to not get the kind of signs of love he expected from his child, especially with how cold he could be. But he took the time to understand that his shows of love came from other ways. They were buried under layers of formality, but Haima discovered that a slight nod of the head and faint smile, or a quiet “father, or a hand on his shoulder with a firm, reassuring grip were all Hiiro’s own way of saying “love you, too.”


	2. Asuna

Of anyone in the CR, Asuna was obviously the most capable and put together. In Haima’s opinion at least. On the outside, anyone would’ve thought he’d say that about Hiiro, but honestly, he knew his son was still struggling with guilt and regrets, so “put together” wasn’t the best descriptor for him. Asuna on the other hand, actually had it together more than half the time, and in comparison to literally everyone in this department, that made her a shining paragon they should all try to live up to. Sure, there were still times she would let loose and have fun, letting her true self as Poppy shine through, but who was he to fault her for that?

Especially after her return to CR.

He didn’t know all the details of what happened in the earlier days of Chronicle, but he saw the slight flinches and tense set of her shoulders she tried to cover up with kind smiles when Parad came close. She’d been able to keep her composure more easily now that she was under much less stress. But every so often she’d get a distant look in her eyes, brows furrowed like she was in pain as she stared off in a daze. Whenever he saw, he’d make sure to walk up, announcing his presence by calling her name and asking about her regular patients or any interesting nurse gossip. Anything but the outbreak or Chronicle. It wasn’t much, but the relieved smile she gave him on those occasions spoke volumes.

Maybe it was the comfort from those days, or just the vast amounts of time they spent together over the past five years; when she was first formed and taught her the ropes to help make her nurse persona convincing as possible. Maybe he should’ve expected something like this, but as they were preparing to go to a meeting with Director Hinata, he commented on how proud he was of her progress over these past few years, and it happened.

“Thank you, Dad.” Asuna barely looked up as she continued filing through her briefcase.

There was a beat of silence before a horrified look overtook her face.

“D-DIRECTOR! I MEANT TO SAY DIRECTOR!”

As she stuttered out apologies, he felt a familiar parental warmth in his chest, and he just smiled at her, gently reassuring it was okay.

They went back to preparing for the meeting, Asuna now clearly flustered as Haima continued to assure her it was fine, as he thought about the parental feeling. Out of all the people in CR, she was the most responsible, even keeping him in line and on task sometimes. He couldn’t be prouder that she thought of him as a father figure.


	3. Taiga

The last time Haima saw Hanaya— really _saw_ him, had extended contact and conversation— was six years ago when he was storming out of CR after having his license revoked. This wasn't to say they didn’t have any other conversations or contact after that incident. What, with Chronicle and all bringing everyone involved in the bugster outbreak together. But every time they did see each other, it was always brief, strained. Haima wasn’t sure if it was his own guilt and awkwardness from the past projecting hostility onto Hanaya’s perpetual scowl whenever he turned his gaze Haima’s way.

He wasn't exactly able to get a good read on Hanaya, but from what he could see, he was a man of few words, and Haima decided that actions would be a better way to get his apology across to him. Unfortunately, he didn't think his plan through all the way, and the Ministry of Health called Hanaya in for an interview while Haima was working to get his license reinstated and his clinic registered.

"Dr. Kagami." A stern voice from behind caught him off guard and Haima threw his folder in the air, showering him and Hanaya in a slow, fluttering rain of important documents.

Hanaya closed his eyes and sighed heavily, expression pinched and tired as he knelt down to start gathering the papers. Haima scrambled to get his bearings before he knelt down, too, reordering the pages Hanaya handed him. They continued like this for a while, Haima sneaking glances over to the other man, who's focus seemed to be entirely on the ground and getting every scrap of paper before he stood again. Haima swallowed hard and turned his attention back to the folder. He would admit, this was hundreds of times better than being forced into a choke hold by the man like he'd done before, but he'd just rather Hanaya approach him like a regular person instead of sneaking up on him all the time.

"I know what you did."

That statement alone sent Haima into a spiral of panic of every horrible thing he'd done in the past few days. Stealing a slice of cake off the one he'd bought for Hiiro, ignoring some important paperwork until he finished his break, not doing his rounds on time—

"Thank you." Hanaya's voice was soft and Haima's expression was so shocked, anyone walking into the conversation at this point might've thought Hanaya had just punched him in the face, rather than giving him genuine thanks.

"Y-y... You're welcome, Hanaya!" Haima almost shouted, and Hanaya winced at the volume.

"You can just call me Taiga, jeez. Don't go deaf so soon, pops."

_Pops._

Taiga seemed to recognize his mistake at the same time as Haima as their expressions of surprise were almost a mirror of each other. He abruptly stood up and started storming away.

"Taiga wait!" Haima called after him, quickly gathering the last papers and stuffing them in the folder.

He dashed after the still unlicensed doctor, clapping a hand on his shoulder when he caught up to get his attention.

"We'll be happy to have you practicing again, in a few months time, Taiga."

Haima stuttered over the sentence, trying to play it off as being out of breath and not because he almost called him "son." Though, he wouldn't deny the swell of fatherly pride as Taiga nodded gruffly before he walked away, trying to hide a smile.


	4. Nico

"Hey Gramps!" Nico crowed as she drifted by on a desk chair.

Haima startled to attention and watched her wheel around the room for a moment before squawking his reply.

"Gramps?"

She pushed off the floor to make a tight hairpin turn before spinning to face him, resting her chin on her hands and the back of the chair. " _Yeah_."

"I'm not that old..." Haima tried not to pout, but felt like he was doing a poor job based on the huge grin directed at him.

Nico leaned in a little like she was going to tell a secret before stage whispering, "I heard Taiga called you 'dad,' though."

"And that means you think you can come around here and call me  _Gramps?"_  Haima almost stated more than asked.

She sighed heavily and gave him a look that said ‘I own an infamous video game-turned-partial-medical-research company, what do you think?' Or at least, that's what he interpreted from it.

"Anyways." She half smiled. "Taiga's basically my dad at this point, so..." She made little circular gestures with her hand, trying to encourage him to finish the sentence.

He just gave her an even more confused look and Nico sighed, letting another beat of silence fall over them.

"So when Taiga and Hiiro finally get together you're gonna be my grandpa."

Haima spluttered, making her cackle. He knew that Hanaya and Hiiro became closer after everything they'd been through together but he hadn't noticed—

"Also like, you've basically taken Kiriya in at this point, right?" Nico's voice cut through his panic. "If Taiga goes with either of them, you're gonna be my grandpa one way or another. Might as well get used to it now."

"Eh?" Haima was still reeling from all this information being dumped on him. "Kiriya? I'm sure he has family."

Nico shrugged. "I dunno... I feel like he was raised in a lab sometimes, y’know? Emu said his medical records still say he’s six. And he’s always lying about his parents and childhood. Like, he said they were American spies, once. It’s always changing and he says they’re always true because they just change jobs and move a lot. He always gets touchy when I try to pry for more, but that obviously can’t be what his family’s like. Right?" Without waiting for his response, she spun in a despondent circle, coming back around to face him. "And like, even if he did have family, not like he could go back to them now that he's 'dead,' right?"

Ignoring his thoughts about explaining the long running joke between the pediatrician and medical examiner, Haima put a hand on her shoulder sympathetically. "Well, he still has family here." He patted her to emphasize the ‘here,’ and her eyes lit up. “We just have to make sure he knows it, right?”

He hated to admit it, but he'd never felt more like a grandpa as she smiled back up at him and nodded.

“Right.”


	5. Kiriya

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was going to be shorter, but it really got out of hand because suddenly Kiriya had a family I realized I wanted to develop at least a little

During the press conference, Haima didn’t miss the slight shock and resigned acceptance on Kujo’s face when Hojo announced him dead. While Haima would normally brush this off as ‘secret Kujo things no one would ever get to know,’ something about the sad set of his shoulders and the way he struggled to put on his usual fake smile set off all kinds of alarms. He tried not to pay it any mind, figuring Hojo or Asuna would talk to him about it since he seemed to trust them most. But now, on top of Nico’s comments the other day, he was spurred on to trying to find out the truth. It took almost a month of gentle prodding, but he finally got Kujo to open up.

Turned out, he contacted his family after his return to CR. He’d found his phone in the box Nishiwaki brought down all those months ago and opened it to countless messages from his family, and caved. He sent them a message that he was alright and would be seeing them once Chronicle was dealt with. Kujo wouldn’t let him see the messages, of course, but assured him none of them contained sensitive information and was just filling his family in on his condition when he could.

Haima had a bitter taste in his mouth after that conversation. They’d neglected to ask for Kujo’s opinion on the press conference announcement. It had just been a quick decision because of the pressure to make a statement. To try make up for it a little, Haima asked to accompany Kujo to his family’s home in Osaka to formally apologize for the mistake.

It was a warm night as they disembarked from the train and walked to the Kujo residence. Haima rarely got to travel, and took some time to enjoy new surroundings, forgetting the sensitive subject of why he was here for a moment. It was a few seconds too late when he realized Kujo was walking away from him, turning into an okonomiyaki restaurant. Haima immediately gave chase, shouting after him.

“Kujo! You can’t give up now! And you don’t even need to eat—"

Haima froze as he entered the shop. Kujo, barely acknowledged his presence, instead focusing on a middle-aged man and woman with shocked expressions, paused in the doorway from the kitchen to the front. The woman dashed out from behind the man, knocking over a few chairs in the process to grab Kujo by the shoulders, shaking him and yelling.

“They said you were _dead!_ Right after you texted and said you’d be coming home! And now you show up a month later… Nisshi said the hospital confirmed you were—” At this she started wailing, burying her face in his chest and pulling him into what must’ve been a bone crushing hug.

The moment of the reunion dragged out, as the woman blubbered something about the press conference and Kiriya mumbled something back about it being rushed and his presumed death was a mistake, patting her comfortingly on the back. Haima was beginning to feel awkward, his gaze sliding towards the man when a faint voice from the back called out.

“Akane? Issei, what’s happening?” A taller woman emerged from the back, broad shouldered, but thin and otherwise delicate looking.

“Is Akane getting into another fight, I heard yelli—” the woman emerged from the back and gasped at the sight of Kujo and who Haima assumed was his mother. She covered her mouth with a trembling fist, silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

The man, Issei, grabbed her free hand. “Mayumi… Mayumi, he’s okay.”

She nodded to him, still biting down hard on a knuckle and looking at Kujo pensively. He looked up tearfully, giving her a little smile.

Issei gently nudged her shoulder. “Go on…”

She slowly made her way over with trembling steps. Carefully sidestepping the mess the other woman made in her rush. Eventually she enveloped Kujo and Akane in a hug. Haima eyed Issei confusedly, since he seemed content to just watch the family from where he was leaned against the doorframe, until it clicked. Kujo had two moms.

...

Haima found Akane and Mayumi Kujo to be nothing like their son, once the family settled in and they were able to explain.

As Kiriya talked about the virus and what happened with him over the past year, Haima nodding his approval to explain the whole thing about dying and coming back, he tried to find similarities between Kiriya and his parents.

He was surprised to find physical similarities. He figured that Kiriya was adopted, but there was definite resemblance. Akane’s tan skin and bright eyes, with little dimples like his adorning her round face when she smiled. Mayumi had a surprisingly similar face shape, especially in the jawline and cheekbones. There were some similarities with his uncle Issei, as well, so he was somehow related by blood. He’d have to ask about that later.

But personality wise, Kujo might as well have not been raised by them at all. Akane was impulsive, passionate. Very much someone who wore her emotions on her sleeve and face, just everywhere really, which quickly became obvious as she talked and listened and held her wife and son close. Mayumi on the other hand, physically dominated the rest of her family with her height, but in every other way, she was reserved and cool, reclusive almost. Her brother Issei seemed to be of a similar disposition, but in a more laid-back way, more like Kiriya's casualness. Haima really couldn’t understand where all the lying and hiding things came from, but he guessed he could see Kiriya’s other qualities in them.

He felt a sharp nudge at his side, realizing Kiriya was trying to subtly elbow him. He cleared his throat when he saw the other Kujos all looking at him expectantly.

“Ah, I’m sorry what was the question?”

“Who are you, exactly? We know you’re his boss, but why’re you here?” Akane raised an eyebrow.

When Haima explained his position in the hospital and why he came along, Akane smacked Kiriya’s shoulder to get his attention as Mayumi giggled.

“Oh, so this is the man you accidentally called dad when you called that one time?”

“MOM!” Kiriya looked appalled.

Haima let out a surprised chuckle as Akane continued to heckle her son and Mayumi patted him. He just said it to help Nico feel better, but apparently Kiriya’s family really did extend past his blood relations. And Haima was slowly realizing that his did as well.


	6. Kuroto

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I barely write Kuroto or Parad so this was one of the tougher chapters for me.

Masamune had done a number on his son, Haima thought as he watched Kuroto frantically work in the DoReMiFa Beat cabinet. The man creeped him out, and he was still confused by his actions most of the time. But Haima couldn't help but feel a deep sadness whenever he looked at the man. With the crisis over and the others out of CR for most of the day, Haima would retreat down to the break room to fill out paperwork and go over reports, where it would just be him and Kuroto. They ignored each other at first, and that was fine. They were both busy men, and like Nico, Haima would rather minimize his conversations with Kuroto.

But eventually, Kuroto was attempting to sweet talk his way out of his cell with Haima. He must've been desperate at this point since he'd never really acknowledged him once Kuroto revealed himself as the mastermind behind the bugster crisis. Haima stayed strong and continually denied him, and slowly Kuroto's pleas for release were phased out of the conversation in favor of other topics, like codes he was working on, game ideas and slight interest in how things were going with the hospital.

Haima reluctantly answered the questions, knowing he could just get up and walk away if Kuroto tried to get too personal. As Haima should've expected, Kuroto was full of surprises and got personal about his own life. He opened up about his childhood, how he sought out his father's approval, but later decided he didn't need it and would surpass his father instead. His mother wasn't around much, but she was always so supportive and doting when she was there, he became dependent on her in a way.

The more he opened up, the more Haima felt sorry for him, since it seemed like he never really had a childhood. He vaguely thought this could be all lies to soften Haima up to release him, but he wasn't going to do that just yet. He didn't plan on doing it at all, honestly. But then he thought back to his own, blood related, child. (He was picking up a lot of unofficial adoptions as of late.) Hiiro had spent most of his time indoors studying or reading, but at least the boy had a choice to go out or do whatever he wanted, within reason, as long as his homework was done and he checked in with either parent. Sometimes he would go out, and talk with local shop owners, often bringing back flowers or little trinkets they'd gifted him since he was always so polite.

Kuroto hadn't been afforded that opportunity, it seemed. All his spare time being spent at Genm couldn't be healthy. Socializing with other employees for a job or because you're the boss's kid wasn't the same as actually going out and making friends for yourself. Even if video games were his life, the inability to choose must've ground on his nerves at some point. Haima couldn't help but think this whole mess could've been avoided with slightly more competent parenting. And then that gave Haima an awful idea, but it was just reckless enough that it might work. As the saying went "it takes a village," and they pretty much had that going on at CR when everyone was around.

He brought it up to Poppy first, and she was hesitant, but agreed Kuroto probably needed some kind of outside time. She started organizing talks with the Ministry of Health and Tsukuru to figure out protective measures that could help convince the rest of the team. They'd all been varying degrees of enthusiastic in their disapproval of the plan, but once Poppy demonstrated handcuffs developed by Tsukuru's medical team using the Level 0 technology to suppress his Bugster abilities, everyone tentatively agreed.

...

Kuroto was wary of all of them the second Poppy slapped the handcuffs on him and he was let out of the cabinet. He eyed them all in a way that reminded Haima of a cornered animal.

They explained the buddy system they set up and that no matter who was on duty for that week, they'd have to wait for Kiriya to be available.

"Kujo? Did you volunteer for this?" He sneered.

"I don't wanna be here any more than you do." Kiriya spat.

"He's the most likely person to strike you down without a moment's hesitation if you step out of line." Hiiro eyed Emu pointedly, who made a face and shrugged in response.

"Plus, he has ranged attacks if you run and actual eyes."

"Nico!" Taiga barked.

"It's true! Get glasses, old man!" She cackled as she wheeled away on her swivel chair and he ran after her. Poppy ran after them, trying to get between them and calm everyone down.

Amid the chaos, Kuroto approached Haima.

"I assume you arranged this?"

Haima nodded, trying his best to maintain eye contact and his nerve.

Kuroto tilted his head from side to side, considering the man in front of him. "You'll be a suitable replacement for Chronos." Kuroto smiled in approval after a while.

Haima didn't even try to disguise his sigh, shaking his head. But he ended up looking at Kuroto with a half smile. It was gonna be a lot of work to help him, but it was better late than never.


	7. Graphite (and Saki)

Bringing Graphite back after Poppy and Parad’s insistence was nerve-wracking. But getting him to join with CR would be much easier in convincing the other bugsters rather than the other way around. If their encounters taught them anything, it was Graphite would always take the path of most resistance, and if there wasn’t one, he’d make it. If he came back and saw they'd convinced all the other bugsters, his  _family_ to join CR, he would probably take it as a betrayal and go full lone wolf as he plotted the downfall of humanity. 

Haima's reluctance ended up being well founded. Graphite was angry at being brought back. Furious even. He felt betrayed, like his revival dishonored his defeat at the end of Chronicle. He’d disappeared for a week, Parad following after. Both of them returned looking dirty and scuffed up, to say the least.

From there, Graphite claimed the couch as his territory, hissing and snapping at anyone who came near, much to Kiriya’s dismay. He grumbled about finding a new place to sleep and Nico laughed, offering to bring a futon into Genm for him. She'd been planning on turning one of the old conference rooms into a more official, better run, nap room anyways. Parad could often be seen with Graphite, idly chatting about things as Parad flopped about on the couch, laying every which way and Graphite just sat in the same spot stoically, letting Parad flop over his lap every once in a while or lean up against his shoulder.

But being back and surrounded by friends and former enemies turned into allies wasn't exactly enough for Graphite. He grew restless, and it showed in the way he got snappy with everyone that came into the break room. Haima asked Poppy if she could think of any solutions, because he was too terrified of the dragon bugster to ask him what was wrong. She got into a long talk with him, bringing him to her corner and sitting him down among all the plushies. Whatever they were talking about must've been heavy, because he caught Graphite furiously scrubbing at his eyes with a fist when he accidentally walked in on them, and even Poppy's eyes were a little watery. He quickly backed out and spent the rest of the day on edge.

The next day he jolted a bit when he noticed Graphite looming over him, Poppy brightly smiling by his side. There was a long, tense silence as Graphite stared him down. Poppy elbowed him hard when he didn't say anything.

With a grunt of pain he growled and finally spoke. "I want to join the nursing program with Poppy."

Haima could've sworn his jaw dislocated with how quickly it dropped.

"Taiga's pretty swamped, and Nico's always busy being between the clinic, nursing school and helping to run Genm. Graphite and I agree that he'd be perfect to help as an extra set of hands around there! And I can help train him! He's already decided on a name for his human guise, too."

"What is it?" Haima squeaked, still reeling from all the information that just got dumped on him. He felt like he'd just been punched in the face from all directions.

Graphite went silent again, his aggressive demeanor shifting into something more withdrawn, shy almost. "Ryuuji. Momose Ryuuji... If that's okay, of course."

Haima felt like he'd been dealt a final, bone-shattering uppercut with that tidbit of info. "Yes of course." He distantly heard himself say.

...

With Graphite back and not seeking out battle 24/7, Haima discovered he couldn't help but dote on him a little too much. He worried that the dragon bugster would be too aggressive, or wouldn't take to his nurse training seriously. But he was quickly proven wrong, and could see a softer, sweeter side of him, that Poppy encouraged him to show more as their training went on. Haima ended up overseeing part of his training when Poppy's duties as Asuna piled up from being needed to consult on a project for the Ministry of Health. Spending more time with him, he couldn't help but feel like there was some semblance of Saki still in Graphite. As if she was the source of this caring personality.

He was intelligent, much more than Kuroto made him out to be, and helpful when he wasn't stealing cakes or threatening the CR staff. Haima couldn't help but think back to the days when Saki was starting out her college days at Seito, nervously introducing herself, asking if there was anyone in pathology who might be a good tutor. He fondly recalled the times he'd show her around and introduced her to staff until she hit it off with Maki Jirou and he took her on as an understudy. She was already like a daughter to him and she fell into treating him like an uncle or father figure quickly.

Calling him Saki slipped out just once, but that was quickly rectified with a fierce look and a sharp: "As much as you want her back, or want me to be her, it's not going to happen." And to Haima's surprise, he wasn't nearly as terrified of Graphite as he usually was, and just politely apologized, promising he'd do his best to not do it anymore. After glaring at Haima for a while, Graphite seemed satisfied and backed off, a newfound understanding and respect between them.

...

When it finally happened, Haima almost saw her beside Graphite as his eyes watered up from nostalgia. They'd been making their rounds and Haima was complimenting him on how quickly Graphite was taking to his lessons and that he'd be working at Taiga's clinic in no time. Graphite huffed a laugh and looked over to Haima skeptically. "Sure, old man, I know I still have a long way to go. You don't have to sugarcoat it for me."

Graphite's eyes glazed over a little as he stared at a spot behind Haima's head. He blinked himself out of his daze, brows pulling together in confusion.

"Huh." He huffed. "So she said the same thing, based on your reaction?"

Haima was afraid he'd let out a sob instead of words, so he just nodded emphatically.

Graphite scoffed, looking away for a moment. But when he turned back to Haima, his expression was sarcastic, but in a soft, fond way. "Well, I heard Kuroto was calling himself the "Father of all Bugsters," but between you and me, I prefer you way more than him as my dad."

Haima gripped his shoulder, nodding again, and tried, but miserably failed to pull himself together as they continued their rounds. Graphite excused it, just this once.


	8. Parad

Haima didn't have very good opinions on Parad. The most substantial interaction he had with the bugster was when he was holding Graphite's bugvisor to his throat. But, if he could get Kuroto to actually behave on his days out to the point where they could relieve Kiriya of the task, maybe he could reach out to Parad as well. At the very least he was going to figure out if he needed to give Parad a piece of his mind for treating Poppy poorly. He was still fuzzy on what happened, but he would get Parad's side of the story and use that to decide if he should go off before doing anything rash.

Parad seemed resistant to any attempts Haima made to get close and talk to him, however. Maybe the bugster's choice to hold him hostage wasn't random after all and was instead out of some mysterious spite for Haima. But he wouldn't stop until he knew what was going on with him. Parad's teleportation made it hard to corner and question him.

The only hint he got from Parad was him shouting once. "I know what you're doing! You tricked everyone else but I'm not falling for it!"

He teleported away, leaving Haima speechless and even more confused than before.

After what felt like months of trying, finally, Emu approached him on the matter.

"Sorry," He smiled sadly. "I know you've been trying to talk to him, but he's... being protective." He cut Haima off before he could question it. "Just, whatever you wanna talk about, could you please forget about it? He really needs space right now."

Haima wanted to protest, but nodded in understanding. The last year had been rough for Parad to adjust to. He had Emu's memories from living inside him for all those years, but his connection to Emu was different from Graphite and Poppy's to their hosts. Maybe figuring out a balance between doing human things like they all expected him to and still being true to himself was harder. Poppy did mention he didn't have an exact grasp on emotions. Whatever it was, Haima would give him his space.

...

It wasn't all that long before Parad came to him.

"You actually listened."

Haima almost jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice right behind him. Instead he just spilled hot coffee all over himself and cried out again in pain. Parad just stood there, mouth agape as Haima scrambled around for some napkins to wipe himself and the table up. Once his heart rate returned to normal and most of the mess was dealt with, Haima faced Parad, eyes wide with residual shock.

"I'm sorry, Parad, what was that?" Haima did his best to keep from sputtering, but the slight amusement on Parad's face clued him in that he did a terrible job.

"Sorry." He shook his head, seemingly still astounded from what just happened. "Um..." He fidgeted a bit. "Do you wanna sit down to talk about this?"

It took Haima a moment to stop reeling and nod. "Yes, that sounds like a fine idea."

Parad sat down nervously and Haima gestured for him to continue once he was settled.

"I'm... I'm not really sure how to say this. Emu said I should try talking with you and we practiced. But I'm still new to this whole, "talking your feelings out" thing." He took a deep breath, tapping his hands on the table. "Anyways, I'm here to tell you that I'm not used to people in authority listening to me. So when Emu told you what was up and you actually just, backed off..." He bit his lip. "I wasn't prepared. I didn't consider you as a potential ally, even after I came here."

Haima shrugged a little. "It was a difficult time for you. I don't exactly blame you for being cautious."

Parad grimaced. "We didn't have the best of parents. Mom was never really there and we're not entirely sure if she died or just left. Haven't really bothered to check." He shrugged uncomfortably. "And... Dad... Well, he worked with Masamune so he was something."

Haima looked on sympathetically, nodding and letting Parad take his time to find the words.

"He wasn't really there either. And when he was, he wouldn't listen to anything Emu had to say. Just... We haven't had good experiences with parents. But then I saw you just like,  _adopting_ everyone else here. I thought it was some kind of trick. All I knew was, parents were enemies. Emu and I had to figure things out on our own and we only survived because we lucked out and had concerned neighbors that took care of him after the accident. But after some talks with Emu and the others, I decided that, maybe you really were being genuine. And after that, I realized I was  _jealous_ that everyone had this parent that actually cared and wanted to look after them." He laughed self-deprecatingly.

"I'm such a joke of a protagonist, huh?"

Haima sighed, but smiled at him. "No shame in needing to rely on family or friends to help you out."

Parad grimaced, watery eyed. "I'm willing to give this whole family thing another chance, if you'll have me. I might not be good at it..."

Haima held his hands up.

"Don't worry about being good at it. Family doesn't need to be a competition, but it should be support when you need it."

Parad awkwardly high fived at his hands and quickly retreated, muttering a "thanks, Dad".


	9. Emu

Of all things Haima didn't expect to find in the supply closet, a dejected Hojo Emu was the one thing he should've seen coming given all the recent events. He'd been grabbing a box of gauze when he almost tripped over lanky, red-clad legs. After regaining his balance, he looked up to the source of the tripping hazard and found Emu, leaned up against the box he needed, apathetically pressing buttons on a handheld console propped up on the floor.

"Oh, um Director." He mumbled, seemingly in a daze. "Sorry, I was just, um..."

Haima shuffled into the closet, carefully stepping over the young man's legs.

"Hojo, I'm taking some gauze to the surgical ward. Would you mind giving me a hand?"

Emu looked around, his expression said he wanted to do anything but move, but he got up anyways. Haima moved in to grab the box, but Emu was a little quicker, hefting it up with relative ease. He nodded in approval and stepped out of the closet, closing the door behind them.

They finished the task relatively quickly and Emu seemed lost.

"Do you have anything pressing to do? If not, could we talk? Something seems to be bothering you."

Emu opened his mouth, expression looking like he wanted to protest, but no words managed to come out of his mouth. He shut it and ended up nodding, following Haima down to the CR breakroom. Once they were there, Haima did a quick once around. Looked like Asuna was busy with the ministry again, Graphite was at Taiga's clinic, and if he remembered correctly, it was Hiiro and Parad's turn to look after Kuroto today. And unless they were extremely well hidden, Kiriya and Nico were probably causing their usual havoc at Genm. Assured that the room was empty, he gestured for Emu to take a seat at the table with him.

"Just take a little break. If you wanna talk about anything, we can talk, but if not, feel free to maybe lie down on the couch. I'm sure it will help you feel a little better."

Emu grimaced, trying to hide it with a regular smile but it wasn't quite reaching his eyes. "No, thank you though. I really should be getting back..." He stood to leave.

"Hojo." Haima said a little gruffly.

Emu blinked at him.

Haima considered his next words carefully. "I feel like there's something you're not telling us. I don't want there to be secrets anymore. I understand that some secrets are necessary to keep, and you're allowed to them. But if it's something that's going to be detrimental to the rest of CR, or your own health, I'd like at least someone among us to know."

Emu bit his lip, sitting back down and sighing heavily.

"It's really nothing." He affirmed.

Haima nodded. "I won't press any more. But please come to one of us if there's any issues, okay?" The pediatrician nodded, and Haima stood. "We're all family, at this point, so we'll be here for you if you need something." Just as he was heading towards the door Emu called out.

"I'm not—!"

Haima turned back, taken off guard.

Emu was glaring down at the table, hands folded in front of him. "I... I don't deserve family... At least not like this. Not after I failed them so many times."

Haima ran a hand through his hair, letting out a little sigh. "Hojo, of course you do. You've worked harder than anyone to pull everyone together."

With gritted teeth, Emu shook his head, still not meeting Haima's eyes. "But Kiriya..."

"I'm sure he doesn't hold anything against you any more than he does with Parad and Graphite stealing the couch for two months."

Emu didn't seem convinced. "No one thinks you're responsible for the crisis. Not Kiriya, or Parad, or Taiga, anyone. It was out of your control. We have one of the people responsible and look how well he's doing now. If you think you're in any way the same, then look to that as a sign of hope that you can still change. Not that I think you need to, you've been doing fine the way you are this whole time. It's admirable honestly."

The pediatrician stayed silent and Haima sat down next to him.

"Seems like you've got a lot on your mind. You don't have to talk about it now, but we can help you. There might not be any short term solutions to everything on your mind, but we can help you bear these burdens until we solve them. And we will solve them, okay?"

Emu nodded, eyes glassy with tears.

"Parad told me you didn't have a good dad growing up. But just know, I'll be there for you if you need me, okay? I know I'm not the most reliable. But I try, and that's the best we can do, right?"

Emu choked off a sob and Haima took him into his arms, holding him until he stopped crying, doing his best to reassure him.

It pained Haima to see how broken up everyone in his little adopted family was, but he wouldn't stop caring for them until they were all patched up.

 

Because that's what doctors do.


	10. A Family

The CR was probably empty at this time. Things had been so hectic over the past year that Haima needed some time to himself. He had really come to love each and every one of the members of the team, but even family needed a breather from each other some days. As he entered the room, he found it was indeed empty and sighed in relief.

It felt a little lonely without everyone, but they were surely all busy.

Everyone was seemingly on their way to better things. Hiiro was branching out and socializing with the other medical staff more. And he'd taken to training the surgical interns well. He was strict with them, but guided them with a gentleness they all appreciated due to their nervousness.

The project Asuna was working on with the Ministry was to get the bugsters registered as citizens and to make preparations for the people who'd been displaced by Chronicle. Once they found a way to extract the data safely, Asuna had everyone prepped and ready to get them processed and back to their families as soon as possible. Efficient as always.

Taiga, Graphite and Nico were a rowdy bunch, but the clinic seemed to be doing especially well, compared to what it used to be. Taiga had loosened up a lot, probably from hanging out with Nico, and they were able to report a marked decrease in intimidated patients by their sixth month in. Nico was her same old self, but also somehow more mature with each passing semester. She was struggling with medical school, but she was nothing if not stubborn. That alone would probably get her through it, but she was fortunately surrounded by at least half decent tutors that could translate lectures into something more palatable for her to take in. Haima was sure she'd become a great nurse. And Graphite gave him pangs of nostalgia for a daughter long lost every time he saw him, but he was slowly learning to look towards the future. Graphite seemed happy that he'd found a purpose he enjoyed and was getting better at it every day. It didn't stop cake disappearing from the CR breakroom however.

Kiriya was looking forward to an early retirement once all this game disease stuff was settled. He mainly talked about going back home to continue the okonomiyaki business, but something told the Genm employees that it wouldn't be the last they saw of him. Especially after the game development teams came back to their computers to find them playing loops of "You're Welcome" from Moana and discovered new tools loaded into their programs to help streamline their jobs. It wasn't long after that, they found him crashed out in the nap room.

Kuroto was doing much better. He was more stable now that he'd been allowed to socialize in a more healthy manner. He still had the whole god complex thing going on, but at least he wasn't doing any harebrained schemes to break out of his room or kill people. He'd actually been allowed to return to Genm to help out on the bugster research teams. His insight on creating the bugvisors was valuable to the vaccine development team on ways to disperse the weakened viruses, since they couldn't exactly do it with syringes, and they managed to figure out a much less threatening design when they finally started distributing the vaccines.

And Parad and Emu. In a lot of ways, they were the same as they always were, doing their best at what they do while remaining enigmatic. Parad returned to professional gaming, but his attitude was markedly improved when dealing with losing opponents. And Emu... he still kept most of his burdens to himself, but he finally managed to open up once or twice to Haima about his insecurities. It was an improvement, but Haima knew there was still a lot to go with the two of them.

He remembered Hiiro mentioned he could have some cake and headed over to the fridge. He pulled out the box and something slipped off it on his way to the table. He went back to pick it up, examining it as he opened the box to an assortment of pastries.

"We all picked one we thought you'd like! ~☆ " was written on the front of the sheet of paper, in Poppy's neat handwriting. It was folded up to be like a card a father might get from his kids when they were still very young.

Opening it up, he was met with an array of signed names and little doodles, all surrounding a message written out in big font

*✲ﾟ*｡✧Happy Father's Day, Director*✲ﾟ*｡✧

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for sticking with this story and reading 'til this point! I really appreciate it!


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